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TRANSVAAL 






TROUBLE 




JOHN HAYS HAMMOND 

D T 

® 





I 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. Copyiight No. 

«helf -^ ^^ 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

9—404 



THE 

TRANSVAAL 
TROUBLE 



AN ADDRESS 
BY 

JOHN HAYS HAMMOND 



THE 



Hbbey press 

PUBLISHERS 
114 

FIFTH AVENUE 
NEW YORK 



85332 



Library of Congress 

Iwo Copies Received 
DEC 7 1900 

(Pk Copyright entry 
No.^,.^,f..?.if.p... 

SECOND COPY 

Odivwod to 

ORO£R DIVISION 

D F'w S 3 19 QQ 



Copyright, 1900, 
by 
THE 

Hbbey press 

in 
the 

United States 
and 

Great Britain. 



All Rights Reserved. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

I. A Brief History 7 

II. Success of the Transvaal 11 

III. Kruger's Extortions 13 

IV. Jameson's Fatuous Raid 17 

V. Jailed for High Treason. 23 

VI. Disgusting Back-Door Negotiations 25 

VII. How the War Came 28 

VIII. The Grievances of the Outlanders 30 

IX. Gag Law'* 34 

X. The Nefarious Liquor Traffic 36 



THE TRANSVAAL TROUBLE. 



1. 

A Brief History. 

I SPEAK as an American citizen and from an 
American standpoint only; I hold no brief for 
England. My sole desire is to correct the erro- 
neous impressions prevailing on the South Afri- 
can question. I deprecate all attempts to 
evoke in America sympathy for the English or 
for the Boers by appealing to national bias. 
The cause of England or of the Transvaal must 
be judged solely upon its intrinsic merits, and 
from that impartial standpoint I purpose to 
discuss the subject. 

It has been asserted, but untruly, that the 
Boers of the Transvaal did not v^ish to have its 
mines developed. Before 1868 the Boers, it is 
true, did discourage prospectors, as well as 
other intruders, but in that year President Pre- 
torius had this law repealed, and premiums 
were offered by the Government for the discov 

7 



The Transvaal Trouble* 



ery of payable gold mines. This stimulated 
considerable mining developments in certain 
portions of the Transvaal. At that time the 
Witwatersrand district had not been discovered. 

When, in 1884, Mr. Kriiger published the cor- 
dial invitation of the Transvaal Government to 
immigrants bringing capital and enterprise, 
gold mines were already worked in the Trans- 
vaal, and the burghers were more than willing 
to sell their mines to f armers. At that time the 
country was in a bad way financially. 

Under the promises given by Mr. Kriiger of 
just and equal treatment to foreigners invest- 
ing money in the country, further immigration 
took place, v/hich resulted, in December, 1885, 
in the discovery of the gold fields of the Wit- 
watersrand. The Outlanders who developed 
these mines bought the land from the Boer 
owners, often at large prices; Mr. Kriiger him- 
self having sold farms for large sums. At the 
time of the Jameson raid in 1896, the Outland- 
ers held options for the additional purchase of 
Boer farms to the amount of over five million 
dollars; and the fact that the prosecution of the 
threatened Johannesburg Reform Committee 
was causing the abandonment of prospecting 
and the surrender of these options^mitigated the 

8 



A Brief Histof 



severe treatmontof the leaders of that Commit- 
tee which was proposed by the Government. In 
short, the Boers have always been, and still 
are, anxious to sell their lands for mining pur- 
poses, and to pocket the proceeds. 

The reason of their disinclination to work 
the mines for themselves is easj^ to find. It 
has been widely said that the mines of the Rand 
(the most important gold district in the Trans- 
vaal) are very rich. On the contrary, they are 
what is known as ''low-grade" mines, the 
rock contains so little gold per ton that individ- 
ual miners, withoiat machinery, capital and 
scientific aid, cannot work it with profit. Only 
operations on a large scale, with all the aids 
which science and capital can furnish, can do 
this. And the scientific skill required was fur- 
nished, in this instance, very largely, not to say 
almost wholly, by American mining engineers, 
who had acquired on the Pacific coast the requi- 
site knowledge and experience. 

Upon this head, the report of the Boer Com- 
mission, appointed in 1897 to investigate the 
economic grievances of the mining industry, is 
conclusive. That report declared that the ad- 
ministration of the mines was not only honest 
but skillful; that most of them were directed 

9 



The Transvaal Trouble* 



by competent men, devoted to that business, 
who had introduced and perfected the latest 
machinery and appliances; and that, without 
these men, ''a good many of the mines now pro- 
ducing gold would not have reached that stage.'' 
The same report warned the Government that, 
"in order to prevent the calamity of a closing- 
down of the mines^ which constituted the finan- 
cial basis, support and mainstay of the state, 
the industry must be encouraged by lightening 
its burdens." 

Note. — Sixty per cent, of the shares of the Witwaters- 
rand Companies are held in France^ Germany and 
Belgium. 

Note. — Until the past year the sums extorted for taxes 
by the Boer Government from the mining community 
have considerably exceeded the amount of money paid 
in dividends to the shareholders of the mines of the 
Transvaal. The expenditure of the Boer Government 
now amounts to $20,000,000 annually for the 
administration of a country of 125,000 square miles in 
area, with a white population of about 300,000. This 
is equivalent to the sum of $1,000 for each adult Boer. 
In fact, the salaries paid to the Boer officials are equal 
to the sum of $200 annually for each adult Boer. 



to 



The Success of the Tr ansvaaL 



II. 

The Success of the Transvaal. 

In short, the truth is that but for the very 
large investments of European capitalists on 
the one hand and the technical direction of 
American engineers on the other, the Transvaal 
mining industry would not have achieved any 
significant success. Concerning its productive 
capability, when developed with these aids, I 
may be pardoned for recalling here the predic- 
tion, published under my name in 1895, as ''well 
within the bounds of conservatism, that the 
annual output, before the end of the present cen- 
tury, would exceed twenty million pounds ster- 
ling worth of gold. There is some doubt, I be- 
lieve, as to the precise date when the nineteenth 
century ends. But I am safe in either theory as 
to that problem, for the production of 1899, when 
interrupted by the present war, was going on at 
the rate of a larger sum per annum than that 
w^hich I prophesied. As to the present produc- 
tion of gold, I can only say, that when the war 

U 



The Transvaal Trouble* 



began the well-roanaged mines of the Rand had 
been developed so as to show reserves of ore for 
two or three years in advance. Since that time, 
as I understand, some of the mines have been 
operated by the Boer Government, which is 
simply using up these reserves, without doing 
any work to develop and prepare new ores. In 
other Vv^ords, it is ''gutting'' the mines, without 
regard to their permanent value. It is very 
easy to get temporary profit from a mine in 
that way; but it is reckless waste of the re- 
sources which nature has provided, and reckless 
disregard of the rights of posterity. ^ 

I had the honor to be one of the American 
engineers engaged in the development of these 
mines. W e were employees, and we were not 
strictly obliged, by the terms of our employ- 
ment, to risk our lives in the defense of the in- 
terests of the absent owners whom we repre- 
sented. Yet, with a feeling of loyalty to the 
trust reposed in us, for which I think no 
American would reproach us, we made common 
cause w^ith our employers, in the attempt to 
resist the plunder of their property through un- 
just and unlawful extortions. 



J2 



Kf uger^s Extoftions^ 



III. 

Kruger's Extortions. 

These extortions were both innumerable and 
intolerable, comprising exorbitant taxation, 
Government grants to private monopolies, cor- 
rupt administration and legislation, the denial 
of personal rights, such as the right of self- 
defense, the denial of the right of peaceable 
assembly for the statement of grievances, and 
the denial of representation, upon reasonable 
conditions of franchise, for interests represent- 
ing more than two-thirds the population, more 
than one-half the land, more than nine-tenths 
of the assessed property, and more than nine- 
tenths the taxes paid in the Transvaal. Our 
legal remedy in the Supreme Court of the 
Transvaal had been defeated by a law, depriving 
that tribunal of its independence and making it 
the creature of the will of the President. The 

Note. — The Transvaal flag floated over the build- 
ing occupied by the Keform Committee during the 
crisis. 

J3 



The Transvaal Trouble* 



so-called Constitution of the republic was 
amended, from time to time, without notice or 
formality, by simple proceedings of the Legis- 
lature, at the dictation of the Executive, and 
had no greater permanence than anyordlnarj- 
statute. The English language was practi- 
cally excluded from the schools which our money 
supported, and from all official proceedings, so 
that even when the judge, counsel, litigants and 
witnesses in a lawsuit all understood English 
perfectly, and the Boer-Dutch patois imper- 
fectly, the use of English was forbidden, and 
the use of the patois enjoined. 

The patronage by the Government of fav- 
ored monopolies was a crying evil. It covered 
innumerable articles necessary to the Outland- 
ers and the miners, but not to the Boers. It 
extended from dynamite to jam; and, worst of 
all, the profits of these monopolies did not go 
to the Government, which received from the 
concessionaires very small returns; but, while 
individuals grew rich from them, the Govern- 
ment secured its revenue by additional taxa- 
tion. 

Note. — The Boer Industrial Commission, admitted 
that $3,000,000 is annually lost to the government by 
reason of the infamous dynamite concession. 



)4 



Kfuge/s Extoftions* 



An instance of such Government favor to 
private enterprises is that of the railroad from 
Delagoa Bay, in which members of the Govern- 
ment were privately interested. The rates of 
freight charged by this road upon articles re- 
quired in large quantity by the mines amounted 
to fifteen cents per ton mile. The great rail- 
roads of the United States charge, under similar 
conditions, about one cent per ton mile. Five 
cents per ton mile is recognized as a liberal 
maximum charge for roads expensively built 
and operated over steep mountain grades on the 
Pacific coast, and fifteen cents is enough to pay 
for transportation by ox teams across a desert. 

In fact, in order to evade the payment 
of this outrageous railroad rate the Johan- 
nessburg mine owners set up again the old 
method and started to haul their goods by ox 
teams, on discovering v/hich the Government 
issued an order forbidding the passage of the 
drifts (fords) on the route. This was done with 
the avowed intention of forcing the mine 
owners to use the line and pay the rates of the 
favored railroad. 

The above list of grievances may be further 
augmented, though not completed, by the state- 
ment that, by reason of the persistent refusal of 

J5 



The Transvaal Trouble* 



the Legislature to grant to Johannesburg any 
form of local self-government, that city of one 
hundred thousand inhabitants was unable to 
protect itself, by sanitary police regulations, 
against unnecessary causes of disease, and 
consequently, though exceptionally healthy in 
situation and climatic conditions, was afflicted 
v/ith a death rate far exceeding that of other 
cities less favorably located. In this respect 
those who demanded reform were literally fight- 
ing for their lives and the lives of their women 
and children. 

Efforts for the redress of these grievances 
by constitutional means had been made for 
years in vain. Petition after petition had been 
rejected with contumely, and, on more than one 
occasion, the Outlanders were told that, if they 
wanted their rights, they would have to fight 
for them. At length they decided to accept 
this alternative, constituted what afterward 
became the Reform Committee of Johannes- 
burg, and smuggled arms into the country. 



i6 



Jameson^s Fatuous Raid* 



IV. 

Jameson's Fatuous Raid. 

At the same time an offer was accepted 
from Dr. Jameson to come to their aid, if re- 
quested to do so; but it was explicitly declared 
that no enterprise would be undertaken under 
the English or any other foreign flag, but that 
the sole object of the contemplated demonstra- 
tion should bo the reform of the corrupt and 
oppressive existing administration, and the es- 
tablishment of a just and honest government of 
the Transvaal Republic. The leaders swore 
allegiance to the Transvaal flag and gave 
solemn pledges that no attempt would be made 
to subvert the sovereignty of the State. In 
fact, the Americans who joined in this move- 
ment were, at that time, specially opposed to 
any identification of it with British interests; 
for that was the time when the Venezuelan 
question had produced a tension in the relations 
between Great Britain and the United States, 
and no American was willing to identify him- 

17 



The Transvaal Trouble* 



self with the former power. At a meeting of 
five hundred Americans, held in Johannesburg, 
December 31^ 1895, it v/as decided (with only 
five dissenting votes) to support the reform 
movement; and a ''George Washington" corps 
was organized, from which all except Ameri- 
cans were carefully excluded. 

I cannot undertake to give here the full 
history of the Jameson raid and its conse- 
quences. But I must state a few established 
facts, which relieve the Johannesburg Reform 
Committee from the charge of a cowardly deser- 
tion of Dr. Jameson. 

1. Notice was sent to Dr. Jameson, and re- 
ceived by him, warning him not to start upon 
his ill-advised expedition. 

2. After he had thus started, in defiance of 
this notice, and before he had been defeated and 
captured, the Johannesburg Committee, in 
friendly conference with the Pretoria Govern- 
ment, offered to guarantee his peaceable retire- 
ment, if he would discontinue his expedition. 

3. After his capture the Johannesburg Com- 
mittee and its constituents surrendered all the 
arms in their possession, on the statement that 
this act would save the lives of Jameson and 
his associates, and the further assurance from 

J8 



Jameson^s Fatuous Raid» 



the representative of Great Britain that they 
would themselves be protected from harm. 
This surrender, for this reason and upon this 
assurance, left them powerless against the fur- 
ther acts of the Pretoria Government, and cost 
them, in the end, between one million and two 
million dollars. 

In view of these facts it may be fairly 
claimed that the Johannesburg Committee did 
more than its full duty to Dr. Jameson. 

Before Jameson'B defeat the Transvaal 
Government was quite willing to treat with 
Johannesburg, and sent the so-called ''olive 
branch" deputation for that purpose. This 
deputation professed a great desire for peace; 
promised reforms, and asked for a conference in 

Note. — The bravery of, the Johannesburg Outlanders 
has been recently proved by the inestimable services 
rendered by those of them who are now fighting in the 
British Army. Thousands of Outlanders have offered 
their services to Great Britain. Many of them were 
born in South Africa; others have had many years of 
experience in that country. Hence they are excep- 
tionally well fitted for war against the Boers, being 
as good riders, and shots as the Boers themselves, more 
intelligent, perfectly familiar with the local conditions, 
and fully as brave, with the added advantage of possess- 
ing Anglo-Saxon dash. 

i9 



The Transvaal Trouble* 



Pretoria. This conference was held, between 
representatives of the Executive and of the 
Committee. The latter stated frankly their 
position and demands, their relation with Jame- 
son, etc., and gave from memory the names of 
their associates in Johannesburg (which list, 
was subsequently used by the Government as 
its guide in making arrests). The conference 
was entirely friendly, and resulted in an agree- 
ment that Sir Hercules Robinson, then High 
Commissioner of Great Britain, should come 
from Cape Town as a mediator between the 
parties. Both the Government and the Com- 
mittee issued public notice to this effect. 

The High Commissioner came, two days 
after the surrender of Jameson, who had disre- 
garded his proclamation to retire from the 
Transvaal. The only result of the so-called 
mediation was the disarmament of Johannes- 
burg, to save the life of Jameson and his men, 
which was done, as Sir Hercules Robinson tele- 
graphed to Mr. Chamberlain, ^'the people plac-^ 
ing themselves and their interests imreservedly 
in my hands, in the fullest confidence that I 
will see justice done to them." In the same 
despatch he said that the Reform Committee' 
had been actuated by "a paramount desire to do 

20 



Jameson^s Fatuous Raid^ 

everything possible to insure the safety of Dr. 
Jameson and his men,'' etc. 

Note. — The importance of the Jameson raid has been 
purposely greatly exaggerated by the Boer Government 
in order to gain European and American sympathy. 
In connection with South African raids, I might state 
that the Transvaal Government itself has been the 
aggressor on several important occasions having raided 
into British territory, which in most instances, they 
^rere obliged to relinquish, by Great Britain sending 
out at considerable expense, military expeditions. Al- 
though in the cases of the unfortunate Zulus and 
Swazis, the persistency of the Boers enabled them to 
obtain a permanent foothold in these latter territories. 

Curiously enough, no less a person than Mr. Kruger 
himself was a raider, having with a force of Trans- 
vaal Boers, invaded the Orange Free State for the 
purpose of obtaining civic rights for his followers. Like 
Dr. Jameson's raid, that of Mr. Kruger also resulted 
in failure, Mr. Kriiger's life being spared through the 
clemency of the Orange Free State officials. Keverting 
to the Jameson raid, this was an incident only in the 
gieat reform movement of the Outlanders, and as E 
have said, v/as made against their protest, the movement 
itself being a bona f-de one for reform. Had not the 
plans of the leaders been frustrated by the invasion of 
Dr. Jameson, the success of the reform movement would 
have been assured? A Revolution from tvithin solely 
in the interests of reform, would have been popular 
throughout South Africa. The Cape Boers, the Boers 
of the Free State and the progressive Boers of the 

2i 



The Transvaal Trouble^ 

Transvaal (including General Joubert himself), were 
favorably disposed to the cause of reform. In fact, 
shortly before the recent Bloemfontein Convention, 
General Joubert publicly stated that the Outlanders were 
deserving of the franchise. 



22 



\ 



Jailed for High Tfeason^ 



V. 

Jailed for High Treason. 

The arms having been surrendered, and the 
''mediator" having returned to Cape Town, 
without once conferring personally with those 
whose interests he had promised to protect, the 
members of the Eeform Committee were 
arrested in a body, imprisoned in Pretoria, and 
accused of high treason. By false representa- 
tions of friendly intentions on the part of the 
Government, they were induced to plead guilty 
to a technical offense, of which the punish- 
ment, under existing statute, would be a light 
fine. But a judge imported for the purpose 
from another district invoked the ancient 
''Roman Dutch law" as superior to the statute, 
and sentenced the four leaders to death. This 
precious specimen of a judge, on his arrival at 
Pretoria, applied to one of the local judges for 
the loan of a black cap, to be used in pronounc- 
ing sentence. 

There is evidence that the intention of the 

23 



The Transvaal Tr ouble* 



Government was to execute the four principal 
prisoners, and commute the sentences of the 
rest to fine and imprisonment as an exhibition 
of clemency. But this plan was defeated by 
an unexpectedly general protest from the Boers 
themselves as well as from the Governments of 
Great Britain and the United States. At the 
outset J the latter Government requested Great 
Britain to look after the interests of American 
citizens who might be involved in peril. 



24 



Disgusting Bacfc-Doof Negotiations^ 



VI. 

Disgusting Back-Door Negotiations. 

Then followed a period of disgraceful and 
disgusting^ back-door negotiations for the pay- 
ment of money as ransom for our lives and 
liberty. We were told that this money would 
be accepted only as a spontaneous subscription 
on our part to some public charity; and the 
amount suggested was tv/o hundred thousand 
dollars each for the four leaders. Finally, the 
price came down to one hundred and twenty- 
five thousand dollars; but we stuck some time 
upon the conditions that we should sign a peti- 
tion for clemency, and oJffer this amount as a 
sort of thank offering, not as a payment. This 
we refused point blank to do, declaring that if 
the Government chose to extort such a sum from 
us, we might consent to pay it ; but we would 
not go through the mockery of giving it to char- 
ity, or of calling the oflScial robbery an act of 
clemency. At last the pious scruples of the 

25 



/ 



The Transvaal Trots ble^ 

authorities gave out, and they took the money 
straight, and set us free. 

Mr. Kriiger's lack of good faith was abun- 
dantly shown throughout the negotiations. He 
endeavored to throw dust in the eyes of 
Europeans, and gain a sympathy which he did 
not deserve. For at that time he was actively 
pursuing the scheme of a conspiracy which 
should drive England from South Africa alto- 
gether, and establish Boer supremacy from the 
Zambesi Eiver to the Cape. Long before the 
Jameson raid, he had imported guns in great 
quantities, erected fortifications at Pretoria and 
adopted plans and secured an appropriation for 
a fort to overawe Johannesburg. The Boers 
had been secretly organized; and foreign 
officers had been employed to drill them. Pro- 
vided with unlimited resources, extorted from 
the Outlanders, they had secured arms enough 
to equip twice over every Boer in all South 
Africa. They were waiting their opportunity, 
which would have come whenever England 
should have become involved in war with other 
powers. In recent years, the Fashoda incident, 
had it brought on a war between France and 
England, would have furnished the desired 
opportunity for the Boer conspirators. The 

26 



Disgusting Bacfc-Door Neg otiations* 

same would have been the case if England, by 
reason of the stand she took during the Spanish 
war against interference of Continental powers 
with the United States, had become involved 
in war with any Continental power. 



27 



The Transvaal Troable* 



VII. 

How the War Came. 

But no such favorable opening presented 
itself; and, in ray judgment, the recent insult- 
ing ultimatum of the Boer Government, fol- 
lowed by its instant invasion of the British 
colonies of Natal, the Cape, was forced upon 
President Kriiger by his inability to control any 
longer the widespread conspiracy he had care- 
fully built up. Great bodies of ignorant, 
ardent and confident people do not want to 
wait. And the hope of a swift conquest of 
English territory, before England could prepare 
for its defense, was too great to be resisted, by 
those who did not rightly estimate either Brit- 
ish valor or British resources. President 
Kriiger, I think, knew better, but could not 
help himself. That hope has been disap- 
pointed. Not one place of importance has been 
captured by the Boers, notwithstanding the 
weakness of the English garrisons. They have 
used in vain the time of their only possible 



28 



How the War Came* 



opportunity; and their complete disappoint- 
ment is at hand. It matters little how long they 
may maintain a defensive guerrilla warfare, 
their plan was an offensive one, and it has 
utterly failed. 

To-day England is fighting for the estab- 
lishment of the principle that there should be 
no taxation without representation. She learned 
this lesson from us in our war of independence. 
In the English colonies of South Africa there is 
absolute equality for both Dutch and English ; 
both obtain the franchise on the same terms. 
The language of both races is used in the par- 
liaments and in the courts of justice in the Brit- 
ish Colonies of South Africa. England is 
fighting among other causes for the extension- 
of this privilege throughout South Africa gen- 
erally. 



29 



The Transvaal Trouble* 



VIII. 

The Grievances of the Outlanders. 

In conclusion let me briefly state the griev- 
ances of the Outlanders. Two-thirds of the 
Transvaal population were Outlanders. We 
went thither by express invitation; our capital 
and enterprise developed what in Boer hands 
was a worthless territory, into the greatest 
mining center of the world; the country, now 
rich, was bankrupt before our arrival; w^e 
owned more than half the land, having pur- 
chased it from the Boers; we paid nine-tenths 
of the taxes, much of which amount was 
admitted by the Boer Commission to be class 
taxation ; and yet we had to submit to unlawful 
expenditure of the bulk of taxation, as we had 
no voice in the Government. 

The franchise law in the Transvaal is, that 
the applicant must renounce, in the first in- 
stance, allegiance to all other countries; he is 
then under probation for a period of fourteen 
years, during which time he is liable to be 

30 



The Grievances of the Outlanders* 



called upon by the State for military duty. 
After the expiration of fourteen years he may 
secure citizenship, provided he obtains in writ- 
ing a petition signed by two-thirds of the 
burghers in the district in which he resides; 
and provided furthermore, that he receives the 
sanction of the President and Executive Council. 

According to our Declaration of Independ- 
ence, ''Governments derive their just power 
from the consent of the governed.'' In the 
Transvaal we have the anomaly of two-thirds 
of the population being disfranchised. The 
two-thirds of the population went to that count- 
try by express invitation. Their capital and 
enterprise developed what in Boer hands was a 
worthless territory into the greatest mining 
center of the world. The country, now rich, 
was bankrupt before their arrival. They owned 
more than one-half of the land, having pur- 
chased it from the Boers; they paid nine-tenths 
of the taxes, much of which amount was 
admitted by tbe Boer Commission appointed 
to investigate the industrial grievances, to be 
class taxatioji. And yet they had to submit to 
an unlawful expendition of the bulk of taxation 
raised, as they had no voice in tbe govern- 
ment. 

31 



The Transvaal Trouble. 



We objected to the subversion of the High 
Court of Justice, in which rested our only hope 
of legal address. In direct contravention of the 
Grondwet (the Boer Constitution), the Volks- 
raad empowered the President and Executive 
Council to dismiss any judge without trial who 
disputed the validity of any law passed by the 
Volksraad, even when such law conflicted with 
the Grondwet. President Kriiger exercised his 
privilege in summarily removing Chief Justice 
Kotze, who had for many years honestly and 
ably filled that oflBce. Afterwards all they 
judges were simply the President's tools. 

We objected to the jury system; we were 
debarred from proper trial, as the law makes 
only burghers eligible for jury duty. Court 
records in the Transvaal prove that a small 
percentage of Boers are found guilty, and a 
very large percentage of Outlanders are con- 
victed. Nor was any Boer jury ever known to 
convict a Boer who had murdered a native. 

We objected to the Alien's Expulsion act, 
by which an Outlander can be put over the 

Note. — Judge Kotze incurred the disfavor of the 
Kruger clique on account of the decision rendered by 
him in favor of an American citizen against the Trans- 
vaal Government. 



32 



The Grievances of the Outlanders. 



border at the will of the President without the 
right of appeal to a court of justice — a court 
open to the offending burgher. This law was 
obviously opposed to the British Boer Conven- 
tion of 1884 — a similar law passed in this coun- 
try under John Adams' administration, 
wrecked the Federal party. 



Lofa 



33 



The Tfansvaal Trouble* 



IX. 

" Gag Law." 

We objected to the prohibition of free 
speech ; to the power vested iu the President of 
suppressing any publication which, in his in- 
dividual opinion^ was opposed to good manners 
or subversive of order. He did not hesitate to 
exercise this despotic power toward newspapers 
which supported British interests, while news- 
papers which supported the Boer Government 
were allowed to publish libelous articles, and 
even to advocate atrocious crimes without 
interference. 

We objected to the Johannesburg police 
force. For the shooting and killing of a Brit- 
ish subject a policeman was recently released on 
one thousand dollars bail — less than the amount 
demanded from Outlaoders in trivial cases. 

We objected to the Public Meetings act, 
which left discretionary power in the hands of 
Boer policemen to suppress assemblages of out- 
landers. 

Wg objected to the high death rate preva- 
34 



lent in Johannesburg, owing to the insanitation 
•which the community was powerless to prevent 
under Boer maladministration. 

We objected to being taxed to maintain 
schools in which Dutch was exclusively taught. 
A resolution introduced in the Volksraad that 
no English should be allowed to be taught even 
in private schools was defeated by only ooe 
vote. 

We objected to the Boers being ' exclusively 
allowed to carry firearms. 

We objected to the maladministration of 
laws as to native labor, the Boers lying in wait 
to rob the natives of their earnings on their way 
from the mines to their homes. 

We objected to the religious disabilities 
aim:ed especially against Roman Catholics and 
Jews. 

We objected to the erection of forts to over- 
awe and terrorize the Outlanders of Johannes- 
burg into a peaceful submission to Boer 
tyranny. 



35 



The Transvaal Trouble* 



X. 

The Nefarious Liquor Traffic. 

We objected to the maladministration of the 
liquor law. The main reason for the insuffi- 
cient supply of labor was that the natives were 
not in a fit state to work, a quarter of them 
being constantly incapacitated through drunk- 
enness and many of the accidents occurring in 
the mines were due to the same cause. 

Even more deplorable results [followed the 
misuse of liquor; frequent outrage on white 
women and children. 

Finally, we objected to the prevalent official 
corruption and to the granting of concessions 
giving monopolies for the sale of supplies indis- 
pensable to the Outlanders. With the conces- 
sionaires, Government officials were generally 
associated in the great profit derived. In the 
grant of a recent railway concession it was 
proved in court that twenty-one out of the 
twenty-five members of the Volksraad had re- 
ceived bribes. 

36 



The Nefarious Liquor Traffic^ 



I assure you that every statement that I 
have made as to the question of grievances is 
absolutely true, and further, that there is 
abundant and incontrovertible evidence availa- 
ble on this subject. In view of these facts it 
is nothing less than disingenuous to affect a 
sympathy for a republic, which, as you must 
admit, is one in name only; and it is little 
short of criminal for American statesmen, 
through ignorance of such an important sub- 
ject, to attempt to justify the position of the 
Boer Government in the controversy. {Loud 
Applause. ) 

Note. — The sum of $10,000,000 loaned to state officials 
has not been recovered by the government. In fact the 
government has, in the interests of the dishonest clique 
possessing it, concealed in its accounts the whereabouts 
of this money. 



37 



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DEC 7 1900 



